Myst Kagekyo
Myst Kagekyo (義(ミスト)影虚 Misuto Kagekyo "Lit"; One who’s eyes are closed, Silhouette of falsehood) is an infamous criminal known across Ishgar for her deeds. As one of the Dränera, she has existed for ages, often under assumed names, even sometimes changing her appearance outright to evade capture. Currently, she leads the crime syndicate known as The Coven. Appearance Although Myst can change her appearance at will, she does have a favorite, the original appearance of her human frame. For attire, she often wears a sleeveless white overcoat over a brown turtleneck shirt zipped up to the top, a green metallic pauldron over her left shoulder, the pauldron bearing yellow stripes. She wears a red cape attached to her uniform near her left shoulder blade, a long black sleeve over her left arm, knee-high leather boots, and a brown mini-skirt over high-topped black shorts. When performing her role as the leader of Ange Déchu, she instead wears a black leather top with a white cape and a matching skirt. Around her arms are metallic sleeves with diamond-shaped plates running along their surface. A crimson shield is attached to her left arm. When out in public, she wears black sunglasses. Should Myst feel the need to shift her form for any reason, she has a few that she often relies on most, cycling through them for the sake of convenience. One of her most used alternate appearances changes her hair to dark red and her eyes become a bright crimson. While in this form, she tends to wear a black and purple jumpsuit with lilac pauldrons on her shoulders, a far simpler attire than her normal, more outlandish outfits. Personality Myst is often shown to be cunning and clever, having laid plans that span decades or more to reach fruition. She can quickly adapt her plans as events unfold and time takes unexpected turns. This flexibility in her thinking is perhaps most of what makes her dangerous. No matter how things play out, she constantly strives to be multiple steps ahead. A master manipulator, Myst more often than not tries to avoid directly taking action, instead choosing to spread chaos to cover her own tracks, evading confrontation and disguising her own motives in one fell swoop. That isn’t to say, however, that she doesn’t enjoy watching as the misery she causes spreads like wildfire, leading the world into a perpetual state of despair and war. To fulfill both ends, she often assists all parties in any given conflict equally, being referred to by many as an “equal opportunity asshole,” a title she herself seems to enjoy. Like all Dränera, Myst embodies a vice, a trait given by her demonic nature. In particular, she embodies temptation itself, luring people to her side with empty promises, turning them into her playthings to do with as she sees fit, making slaves of free men without a second thought on the matter. During interaction with her underlings, she maintains an air of calm civility, speaking to them as though they were equals despite the vast gulf between them in age and station. She actively seeks to better their lives, and with her vast resources, she can make nearly any dream a reality without a second thought, an act she does without any intent of being repaid except by continued service to her cause. History Equipment Gehenna (ジエヘナ Jehena, "Lit"; Hell or Place of Torment): Gehenna is Myst’s personal sword. A simple single edge, scarlet red katana with dark purple hilt wrappings. The sword is made of a specially enchanted chrome alloy that can resist even the hottest of fires, which makes it perfect for her magical aptitudes. Senmon (泉門, lit. Gates of Hades): Myst's personal shield, Senmon is a durable plate made of similar metal to Gehenna, enchanted to further increase the durability, lessen the force transferred to her arm when something strikes the shield. The metal also adapts when struck by magic, boosting the defense it provides against spells of the same type or element. Magic and Abilities Immense Magic Power: Myst has incredible amounts of magic power, far beyond even S-class level mages. Living for centuries, she has had ages to hone and perfect her powers, making her real level of power immeasurable by human standards. When she exerts her magical power as an aura, it takes on a rose color with a crimson outline. Greatly Enhanced Strength: Myst's body has grown far stronger with the passing ages, as the demonic energy in her veins grows perpetually with time, only increasing the host body's physical might. After centuries of existing, she's capable of astounding feats. With a single hand, she can easily crush solid stone into fine powder. Enhanced Speed: Enhanced Reflexes: To match her inhuman speed, Myst's mind is able to react in record time, allowing her to react to things far quicker than a normal human could. Vast Intellect: One of the oldest known beings, only behind dragons, her maker and the demons that inhabit her body, Myst has knowledge on matters far beyond mortal understanding. She knows far beyond what a woman of her apparent age should have any form of knowledge on, a fact she often uses to her advantage. Above Average Swordsmanship: Myst is quite skilled with a sword and isn’t afraid to use it as a primary means to achieve victory in combat. Coupled with her ability to light the sword ablaze with merely a thought on the matter and her sword skills make he a close ranged threat. *'Battōjutsu '((抜刀術 lit. Art of Sword Drawing): Myst's preferred style of swordsmanship. Battojutsu is in the simplest terms striking with the sword as it is drawn from the sheath. Because a katana, such as Gehenna, curves inward along the inside of its sheath, the wielder can apply greater force to the swing without fear of losing control, as the sheath acts as a guide for the sword. Because the sword meets little to no resistance during the draw, with the right amount of force, such a strike can be carried out two to three times faster than a strike from an already drawn blade. Transformation (変幻 Hengen): The ability of a Dränera to change their physical appearance to the most minute detail, save for gender. Myst's skill with the art is what has allowed her to evade capture for a wide number of crimes over a rather extensive period of time, and she can change with only a few moments to decide on the changed aspects of herself and to commit to them. Hex Magic(呪詛魔法 (じゅそまほう) Juso Mahou; lit, "Curse Sorcery"): Myst’s magic of choice, Hex Magic affords her powers few other magics can match. Versatile and deadly, Myst has turned the magic from a mere tool into an art form, using the myriad capabilities of the magic to seemingly infect the world with her will, bending all of nature to her whims. : Fire Spells: Myst is able to manipulate and create fires for various effects through her chaos-imbued magic. By producing even the smallest spark, she can force that single spark to become a wild conflagration or as soft as a simple light source, reigning in or unleashing the magic as she needs. *'Fire Bullet' (ファイア バレット, Faia Baretto): As the name implies, Myst forms a large sphere of flame which she directs at her foe, usually scorching the ground and igniting flammable sources along the way, adding to the spell’s destructive force. *'Flashing Edge' (点滅際, Inkaten Kiwa Lit. Flash Point Edge): Myst engulfs the blade of Gehenna in a torrent of raging flame to augment the damage wrought by the weapon. Although a fearsome weapon, its use is not solely to destroy, but it can burn a wound shut to prevent blood loss, an action commonly referred to as cauterizing. : Wind Spells: Directing her Hex Magic to the air itself, she can twist and manipulate it freely, giving her a deadly, all-encompassing weapon that serves her whims. A single gust can become a mighty gale or become as gentle as a breeze. : Magic Nullification: One of the more obscure, passive abilities of Hex Magic allows Myst to use her own power to outright nullify the magic of her enemies, rendering any magic nearly worthless against her. She surrounds herself in the chaos, and the magic forms a protective bubble around her. By packing this bubble with Ethernano, she can force the possibility of any magic that would otherwise do her harm or impede her to become zero and to make that zero the reality. However, to fully counter a specific type of magic, she must first understand it, meaning that if one were to catch her by surprise, then it would be possible to bypass her defenses. : Ruin Magic (破滅の Hametsu no Mahō): Ruin Magic is a Black Art, exclusively belonging to Myst, and serves as her ultimate magic. With this power at her command, she is rightfully feared as an embodiment of destruction, a demon of death and blood. Put simply, Ruin Magic simply destroys whatever it comes in contact with as if removing it from existence. Not even dust remains behind as the magic obliterates the target without hesitation. Myst is quite skilled with the magic and can control the scale and scope of the power to suit her needs without more than a thought. This magic focuses the essence of death itself in a conflagration fueled by Myst’s desire to destroy that which stands in her way, and it takes the form of crimson and black energy that flows like fire when not fully focused. However, when Myst exerts her will, she can command it to take various forms to better suit the task at hand. Trivia *Appearance-wise, she is based on Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII *Myst’s name was taken from Norse mythology, more specifically a Valkyrie. *Her theme song is Bring Them All To Light by Apocalyptica. *Her nickname, the "Equal Opportunity Asshole" is a reference to the author's D&D group, specifically the one player who knows the game better than the author himself. *The concept of the Dranera is the product of Ash, many thanks to him for letting me use it.